Tag: second

Canadian diplomats received consular access on Sunday to the second of two men detained by China over the past week, Canada’s foreign ministry said in a statement that gave few details. John McCallum, Canada’s ambassador to Beijing, met Michael Spavor, the statement said. Spavor and Michael Kovrig were both picked up after Canada arrested a senior Chinese executive on a U.S. extradition request. China has demanded Canada free Meng and threatened unspecified consequences if it does not. “In the s

Canadian diplomats received consular access on Sunday to the second of two men detained by China over the past week, Canada’s foreign ministry said in a statement that gave few details.

John McCallum, Canada’s ambassador to Beijing, met Michael Spavor, the statement said. Spavor and Michael Kovrig were both picked up after Canada arrested a senior Chinese executive on a U.S. extradition request.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — who said on Friday the detentions were unacceptable — told CTV his government was taking the situation very seriously.

“We have engaged with the Chinese officials to determine what exactly conditions are they being detained under? Why are they being detained?” he said in an interview aired on Sunday.

McCallum met Kovrig for the first time on Friday.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that China should free the two men.

Spavor, a businessman, and Kovrig, a former diplomat, were detained after Canadian police arrested Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer, Meng Wanzhou, on Dec 1. U.S. prosecutors accuse Meng of misleading multinational banks about Iran-linked transactions, putting the banks at risk of violating U.S. sanctions.

Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei’s founder, has said she is innocent. China has demanded Canada free Meng and threatened unspecified consequences if it does not.

On Monday, influential state-back newspaper the Global Times said in an editorial that an escalation in the spat with Canada could be coming.

“In the struggle with Canada, China needs to prepare for the possibility of conflict escalation,” it said.

“Beijing must take the contest seriously and maximize the support of international public opinion, leaving Western media no smear to slander its counterattacks as ‘degradation of China’s opening-up.'”

Trudeau told CTV that Canada would continue trying to build up trading ties with China.

“We need to do so in a way that is true to our values and stands up for Canadians’ interests, and getting that balance right is complex. (It) has been made more difficult by recent trends,” he said.

But there may still be plenty of public disagreements and political wrangling ahead when it comes to the best path forward, including inside her own Cabinet that meets Tuesday. In her statement Monday, after a largely fruitless trip to Brussels late last week, the prime minister all but ruled out a second referendum on her watch. She insisted that such a vote would “break faith” with the British public, and in particular the slender majority that voted to leave the European Union more than two y

Despite efforts by the Labour party and other political opponents of the government in the House of Commons, it now looks very unlikely that Theresa May — after last week’s postponement — will put her Brexit proposal to a parliamentary vote this side of the New Year.

But there may still be plenty of public disagreements and political wrangling ahead when it comes to the best path forward, including inside her own Cabinet that meets Tuesday.

In her statement Monday, after a largely fruitless trip to Brussels late last week, the prime minister all but ruled out a second referendum on her watch. She insisted that such a vote would “break faith” with the British public, and in particular the slender majority that voted to leave the European Union more than two years ago.

Several of her ministers over the weekend dutifully echoed this view; International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said a second referendum would “perpetuate” the divisions in the U.K., while Education Minister Damian Hinds insisted it would unquestionably be “divisive.”

So whither Brexit? And what clarity — if any — can investors and businesses glean from the current maelstrom of competing interests in Westminster?

December is typically a very positive month for markets. The S&P 500 averages a 1.6 percent gain for December, making it typically the best month for the market, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac. While the S&P 500 began dissemination in 1950, the performance data was backtested through 1928. It’s worth noting that historically, the second half of December tends to see gains. WATCH: ‘Bond King’ Jeffrey Gundlach says S&P 500 has already entered bear market

Canadian businessman Michael Spavor, who worked with North Korea, is missing in China, a Canadian official said, days after Chinese authorities detained a former Canadian diplomat amid an escalating diplomatic row. State media in China has reported Kovrig is being investigated “on suspicion of engaging in activities that harm China’s state security.” Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland earlier told reporters that a second Canadian citizen could be in trouble in China. The group says on i

Canadian businessman Michael Spavor, who worked with North Korea, is missing in China, a Canadian official said, days after Chinese authorities detained a former Canadian diplomat amid an escalating diplomatic row.

His disappearance follows the detention in Beijing on Monday of former diplomat Michael Kovrig, who works for the International Crisis Group. State media in China has reported Kovrig is being investigated “on suspicion of engaging in activities that harm China’s state security.”

Spavor, meanwhile, is being investigated in China on suspicion of harming China’s national security, a Chinese government news site said on Thursday. The Dandong city state security bureau has been investigating Spavor since Dec. 10, an official news site of the Liaoning province government said. It did not give further details.

China has reacted angrily to Canada’s arrest on Dec. 1 of Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies, and Spavor’s disappearance is likely to further escalate the diplomatic row.

Meng’s arrest was made at Washington’s request. She has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of misleading banks about transactions linked to Iran, putting the banks at risk of violating sanctions.

Canada has been unable to contact Spavor since he notified the Canadian government that he was being questioned by Chinese authorities, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guillaume Berube said in statement issued in Canada late on Wednesday.

Canada was working hard to ascertain Spavor’s whereabouts and would continue to raise the issue with the Chinese government, Berube said.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland earlier told reporters that a second Canadian citizen could be in trouble in China.

Phone calls, messages and emails to Spavor went unanswered on Thursday.

Friends of Spavor told Reuters he was due to fly out of Dalian on a Korean Air flight to South Korea at 2:05 p.m. (0605 GMT) on Monday but had not arrived.

Spavor, who is based in the northern Chinese city of Dandong, on the border with North Korea, is the head of Paektu Cultural Exchange, a China- and UK-based non-profit social enterprise.

The group says on its website it is “dedicated to facilitating sustainable cooperation, cross-cultural exchanges, activities, trade, and investment” with North Korea.

It also says the organisation maintains an “array of contacts” within North Korea and is “nonpolitical.”

Spavor has acted as a translator and facilitator for former U.S. National Basketball Association star Dennis Rodman on trips to North Korea and shared Long Island Iced Teas with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on board one of his private boats after they went jet-skiing in 2013.

More recently he has been trying to facilitate investment in North Korea in anticipation of sanctions being lifted, often hosting both North Korean officials and potential investors at his office in Dadong as well as on trips inside North Korea, Spavor told Reuters in previous interviews.

Tesla is on pace to begin production at its factory in China in the second half of next year, the Shanghai government said Wednesday. Land leveling is basically complete and construction is about to begin, with the factory expected to be put partially into operation in the second half of 2019, according to an official WeChat post from the government. The article described a visit by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong and Vice Mayor Wu Qing. In mid-October, Tesla officially acquired an 864,885-square meter

Tesla is on pace to begin production at its factory in China in the second half of next year, the Shanghai government said Wednesday.

Land leveling is basically complete and construction is about to begin, with the factory expected to be put partially into operation in the second half of 2019, according to an official WeChat post from the government. The article described a visit by Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong and Vice Mayor Wu Qing.

Tesla did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

In mid-October, Tesla officially acquired an 864,885-square meter plot in Shanghai’s Lingang area for the electric car maker’s first factory outside the U.S.

Elon Musk’s company has also launched an official WeChat account for hiring locals.

Producing in China, the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, would allow Tesla to reduce costs significantly. The company has said it is operating at a 55 percent to 60 percent cost disadvantage with a domestic peer due to ocean transport costs and tariffs.

His loyalists are sizing up a prospective 2020 Democratic field likely to feature a collection of ambitious liberal leaders — and not the establishment-minded Hillary Clinton. Acknowledging the stark differences between the 2016 and 2020 fields, Hollywood star Danny Glover, who campaigned alongside Sanders in 2016, would not commit to a second Sanders’ candidacy when asked this weekend. “I don’t know what 2020 looks like right now,” Glover said before taking a front-row seat for Sanders’ opening

An insurgent underdog no more, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is laying the groundwork to launch a bigger presidential campaign than his first, as advisers predict he would open the 2020 Democratic presidential primary season as a political powerhouse.

A final decision has not been made, but those closest to the 77-year-old self-described democratic socialist suggest that neither age nor interest from a glut of progressive presidential prospects would dissuade him from undertaking a second shot at the presidency. And as Sanders’ brain trust gathered for a retreat in Vermont over the weekend, some spoke openly about a 2020 White House bid as if it was almost a foregone conclusion.

“This time, he starts off as a front-runner, or one of the front-runners,” Sanders’ 2016 campaign manager Jeff Weaver told The Associated Press, highlighting the senator’s proven ability to generate massive fundraising through small-dollar donations and his ready-made network of staff and volunteers.

Weaver added: “It’ll be a much bigger campaign if he runs again, in terms of the size of the operation.”

Amid the enthusiasm — and there was plenty in Burlington as the Sanders Institute convened his celebrity supporters, former campaign staff and progressive policy leaders — there were also signs of cracks in Sanders’ political base. His loyalists are sizing up a prospective 2020 Democratic field likely to feature a collection of ambitious liberal leaders — and not the establishment-minded Hillary Clinton.

Instead, a new generation of outspoken Democrats such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and California Sen. Kamala Harris are expected to seek the Democratic nomination. All three have embraced Sanders’ call for “Medicare for All” and a $15 minimum wage, among other policy priorities he helped bring into the Democratic mainstream in the Trump era.

Acknowledging the stark differences between the 2016 and 2020 fields, Hollywood star Danny Glover, who campaigned alongside Sanders in 2016, would not commit to a second Sanders’ candidacy when asked this weekend.

“I don’t know what 2020 looks like right now,” Glover said before taking a front-row seat for Sanders’ opening remarks. “I’m going to support who I feel to be the most progressive choice.”

One of Sanders’ chief supporters from neighboring New Hampshire, former state senate majority leader Burt Cohen, acknowledged that some people worry Sanders is too old for a second run, although that’s not a major concern of his. Like Glover, he’s not sure if he’ll join Sanders a second time.

“There are other people picking up the flag and holding it high, and you know, it could be Bernie, but I think there are other people as well,” said Cohen, who did not attend the Vermont summit. “It’s not ‘Bernie or bust.’ That’s certainly not the case.”

Another high-profile Sanders supporter who was in attendance, Cornel West, described the Vermont senator as “the most consistently progressive one out there,” suggesting that some would-be 2020 candidates have adopted Sanders’ words, but maintained ties to Wall Street and “militarism.”

Still, West conceded that none of likely 2020 candidates “have as much baggage” as Clinton did.

Perhaps the most important member of Sanders’ network, wife Jane O’Meara Sanders, said Democrats may be embracing Sanders’ “bold progressive ideas” on health care and the economy in some cases, but there’s need to go further on issues like climate change, affordable housing and student debt.

Whether her husband will lead the debate as a presidential candidate in 2020, she said, remains unclear. O’Meara Sanders noted that one question above all others would guide their decision: “Who can beat Donald Trump?”

“That has to be the primary goal. To win. We think you win by a very strong progressive commitment,” she told AP. When asked if Sanders could win in 2020, she said “every single poll” showed that Sanders would have beaten Republican nominee Donald Trump two years ago.

O’Meara Sanders also downplayed the grueling personal demands of a presidential campaign, something that historically has led some other spouses to pressure their husbands to avoid the white-hot presidential spotlight more than once.

“It was extremely inspiring meeting all the people all over the country,” she said of the 2016 campaign. “And what might be difficult for me is not as important as what might be difficult for them and whether or not we can help them with those difficulties.”

“It’s not about us,” O’Meara Sanders added. “It’s about what’s right for the country.”

Despite signs pointing to a 2020 run, Sanders has given himself a clear escape hatch.

Weaver, like Sanders himself in a recent interview, suggested that the senator would step aside if he believes another candidate has a better shot at denying Trump a second term. There are no clear indications from Sanders or those closest to him, however, that he currently has that belief.

“I know they haven’t announced, but it sort of seems like that’s what’s happening,” said John Cusack, another actor invited to the weekend summit. Asked about his preference for 2020, he called Sanders “the only real progressive candidate out there.”

“All of the sudden, what was once fringe politics is now mainstream. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that (Texas congressman) Beto O’Rourke and all these young candidates are running on the People’s Summit and progressive movement platform, but let’s not forget who broke us through.”

BMW is considering a second U.S. manufacturing plant that could produce engines and transmissions, Chief Executive Harald Krueger said on Tuesday, shortly after a report that U.S. President Donald Trump would impose tariffs on imported cars from next week. May is drumming up support for the divorce deal with the European Union ahead of a December 11 vote in British parliament. BMW is considering changes to U.S. operations as sales in the region grow, Krueger said. BMW has a U.S. vehicle assembly

BMW is considering a second U.S. manufacturing plant that could produce engines and transmissions, Chief Executive Harald Krueger said on Tuesday, shortly after a report that U.S. President Donald Trump would impose tariffs on imported cars from next week.

Krueger in an interview at the Los Angeles Auto Show also said he backed British Prime Minister Theresa May’s current Brexit plan to divorce the United Kingdom from the European Union.

“The compromise on the table is something I can clearly support,” he said. May is drumming up support for the divorce deal with the European Union ahead of a December 11 vote in British parliament.

BMW is considering changes to U.S. operations as sales in the region grow, Krueger said. BMW has a U.S. vehicle assembly plant, in South Carolina, is planning to open a Mexico factory next year, and is considering changes to its current scheme of importing engines and transmissions.

“We’re at the range where you could think about a second location” in the United States, he said, adding that such a factory would provide a natural currency hedge.

Gross domestic product increased at a 3.5 percent annualized rate, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday in its second estimate of third-quarter GDP growth. That was unchanged from its estimate in October and well above the economy’s growth potential, which economists estimate to be about 2 percent. The economy grew at a 4.2 percent pace in the second quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast third-quarter GDP growth unrevised at 3.5 percent. An alternative measure of economic growt

Gross domestic product increased at a 3.5 percent annualized rate, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday in its second estimate of third-quarter GDP growth. That was unchanged from its estimate in October and well above the economy’s growth potential, which economists estimate to be about 2 percent. The economy grew at a 4.2 percent pace in the second quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast third-quarter GDP growth unrevised at 3.5 percent. An alternative measure of economic growtUS third-quarter GDP growth unrevised at 3.5% Cached Page below :Company: cnbc, Activity: cnbc, Date: 2018-11-28Keywords: news, cnbc, companies, growth, second, gdp, quarter, estimate, 35, unrevised, domestic, pace, increased, rate, thirdquarter

The U.S. economy slowed in the third quarter as previously reported, but the pace was likely strong enough to keep growth on track to hit the Trump administration’s 3 percent target this year.

Gross domestic product increased at a 3.5 percent annualized rate, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday in its second estimate of third-quarter GDP growth. That was unchanged from its estimate in October and well above the economy’s growth potential, which economists estimate to be about 2 percent.

The economy grew at a 4.2 percent pace in the second quarter. While businesses accumulated inventory at a faster pace and spent more on equipment than initially thought in the third quarter, that was offset by downward revisions to consumer spending and exports.

Growth is being driven by the White House’s $1.5 trillion tax cut package, which has given consumer spending a jolt and bolstered business investment. The fiscal stimulus is part of measures adopted by President Donald Trump’s administration to boost annual growth to 3 percent on a sustainable basis.

The government also reported on Wednesday that after-tax corporate profits increased at a 3.3 percent rate last quarter after rising at a 2.1 percent pace in the second quarter.

An alternative measure of economic growth, gross domestic income (GDI), increased at a rate of 4.0 percent in the third quarter, quickening from the second quarter’s 0.9 percent pace.

The average of GDP and GDI, also referred to as gross domestic output and considered a better measure of economic activity, increased at a 3.8 percent rate in the July-September period, up from a 2.5 percent growth pace in the second quarter.

British holiday company Thomas Cook cut its forecast for full-year underlying operating profit on Tuesday, the second downgrade in two months, and suspended its dividend due to a particularly weak home market. The company said it now expected to report a figure of 250 million pounds ($320 million), down 58 million pounds on the previous year and below the target of 280 million pounds it set in September.

British holiday company Thomas Cook cut its forecast for full-year underlying operating profit on Tuesday, the second downgrade in two months, and suspended its dividend due to a particularly weak home market.

The company said it now expected to report a figure of 250 million pounds ($320 million), down 58 million pounds on the previous year and below the target of 280 million pounds it set in September.

“It will honor the result of the referendum.” The European Union has also encouraged Parliament to back May. She added that several lawmakers, including herself, are now telling May that she must put the Brexit agreement up for a second referendum vote so that the public can decide between accepting the deal as it stands, or opt to remain as part of the EU. “We’re saying to Mrs. May, ‘You must take this back in a second vote and we won’t support it unless you have got valid consent from the publ

For her part, the prime minister appealed to the British public in a letter calling for support of her plan, promising a “brighter future” for the U.K.

“It will be a deal that is in our national interest — one that works for our whole country and all of our people, whether you voted ‘Leave’ or ‘Remain’,” she said in the letter. “It will honor the result of the referendum.”

The European Union has also encouraged Parliament to back May.

Apart from the sparsity of detail about the future, Wollaston explained that Brexit would break up decades of close ties with the EU that would affect the U.K.’s health service, science and research, and social care.

She added that several lawmakers, including herself, are now telling May that she must put the Brexit agreement up for a second referendum vote so that the public can decide between accepting the deal as it stands, or opt to remain as part of the EU.

“We’re saying to Mrs. May, ‘You must take this back in a second vote and we won’t support it unless you have got valid consent from the public.’ I certainly won’t support it unless Mrs. May agrees to a second referendum, and I think that there are many colleagues who feel the same,” Wollaston said.